Home » TIMag.com news » Tournaments/Events » ATP Finals coverage set

ATP Finals coverage set

LOS ANGELES — Tennis Channel has nearly 60 hours of live match play lined up for its annual coverage of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the famed O2 arena in London next week, with more than 150 dedicated hours overall via same-day, prime-time replays. The network will again offer a complete, wall-to-wall telecast of the season-ending competition, November 20-27, from first-round play to the singles and doubles championship matches.

With the likes of 2010 champion Roger Federer and top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, along with Americans Mardy Fish and doubles players, brothers Bob and Mike Bryan, the prestigious year-end competition pits the world’s top-eight singles players and top-four double teams against each other, respectively, in the final tournament of the ATP season.

Tennis Channel on-air regulars Ted Robinson and Leif Shiras will call the matches at the men’s tennis championship, with Jimmy Arias handing analysis and Justin Gimelstob reporting. The network’s broadcast team will give viewers front-row seats to one of the most sought-after tennis tickets of the year, with live coverage on weekdays beginning at 7 a.m. ET, and varying weekend coverage times (complete schedule follows). A similar schedule is on tap for the encore matches, which begin each weekday at 11 a.m. ET.

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is one of the most important competitions on the men’s tennis calendar, and annually determines the tour’s champion singles and doubles players. Only the top eight singles and doubles players qualify for the event, earning points throughout the year which determine their rankings. The event is essentially a “who’s who” of the highest level of professional tennis each November, with every match easily passing for a championship final at Wimbledon or the US Open.

The singles competition breaks the eight contenders into pools of four for a round-robin format of three matches against the others in their group. Before the top two in each pool advance to the semifinals for traditional, single-elimination play, fans and Tennis Channel viewers are able to watch favorite stars compete in at least three matches against their most challenging contemporaries. In addition to superstars Djokovic, Federer, Nadal and Fish, this year’s singles field features Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych.

On the doubles side, joining American twins Bob and Mike Bryan — who secured their year-end finish as the top-ranked doubles team for a record setting 7th time in 2011 — are Nenad Zimonjic/Michael Llodra, Daniel Nestor/Max Mirnyi, Philipp Petzschner/Jurgen Melzer, Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes, Robert Lindstedt/Horia Tecau, Rohan Bopanna/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Mariusz Frystenberg/Marcin Matkowski. The doubles championship is played in single-elimination format.

Tennis Channel’s Web site, tennischannel.com, will offer the latest scores and schedules, in addition to daily highlights during the 2011 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Facebook users can also follow the action through the network’s dedicated Facebook page, facebook.com/tennischannel, while Tennis Channel’s Twitter feed, twitter.com/tennischannel, will stay on top of the competition in London as well.

Tennis Channel’s 2011 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Schedule (all times Eastern)

Sunday, Nov. 20-Friday, Nov. 25

7 a.m.-11 a.m. / 1 p.m.-5 p.m. Live singles and doubles

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. / 5 p.m.-4 a.m. Encore singles and doubles replays

Saturday, Nov. 26

7 a.m.-8:30 a.m. / 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Live doubles semifinals

9 a.m.-11 a.m. / 3 p.m.-5 p.m. Live singles semifinals

11 a.m.-1 p.m. / 5 p.m.-7 p.m. Singles semifinals (same-day delay)

1 a.m.-4 a.m. Encore doubles semifinals

7 p.m.-1 a.m. Encore singles semifinals

Sunday, Nov. 27

10:30 a.m.-Noon Live doubles championship

6 p.m.-8 p.m. Singles championship (same-day delay)

8 p.m.-3 a.m. Encore singles and doubles championship replays

Posted on November 16, 2011
Permalink